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Indie Writer Philippines

RomanceClass Podcast Episode: The Rockstar Trope

Posted on February 28, 2021

RomanceClass Podcast is back with Season 4! Kicked off with the launch of The Tropetastic Kindness Bundle (available until April 14, 2021 here, all proceeds to charity!), and now with Episode 2: The Rockstar Trope. Alternate title: Why Are Rockstars??

Super cool to have been part of this panel because 1) I write about rockstars in romance, and 2) turns out it’s good to sit with the questions of why we are fascinated with these musician people and why and how we enjoy them, specially in our romance content.

Chatted with gig/music/writer friends Dawn Lanuza, Six de los Reyes, and Tara Frejas, with hosting by producer Mina V. Esguerra and direction from producer/the voice of god (lol) Tania Arpa.

The episode is up on RomanceClass Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. A few of my things from the discussion here, plus some stuff that came to me after, which is how the brain works sometimes.

Origin story. Seeing friends and classmates picking up instruments, forming bands, and performing in high school and college. Seeing how funny and cool and awkward it could be, kids trying to work together to create synchronized output, mess and art. The band dynamics that come out of the exercise. Picking up a guitar myself, to which when asked if I play, I can only answer as Lizzie Bennet said to Lady Catherine: “a little ma’am, and poorly.” Still fun though, always fascinating.
Influences. Sandwich, specially the dynamic of having three guitarists and the live performances. They will always be my favorite local band to see live. Alex Turner, for the words and lyrics. And for the album AM, bless him.
Characters inspired by real people who formed bands. Short answer is yes, they exist. Longer answer points to origin story. There is always that one cute boy in high school who got good with the guitar, then with the drums too. And maybe in college there was a cute boy who brought his acoustic guitar around and played and sang for anyone with little prodding.
Biggest rockstar moment. Parading into the wedding reception hall as part of the entourage, only to see Ebe Dancel performing live. Romanceclass also met Champ Lui Pio of Hale in a rockstar lecture, that was a teenage dream come true. Local gigs in the likes of Saguijo, Conspiracy, and Route 196 were chill spots for casual rockstar encounters, as were music festivals where musicians roam freely.
Hype and zone out songs. Submarine OST album, all songs by Alex Turner. Love Me/ Love Me Not by HONNE, on Spotify.
Recs for rockstars in media. Sunset Curve and Julie and the Phantoms in Julie and the Phantoms. Mido and Falasol in Hospital Playlist, on Netflix.
How do we like our rockstars. Six segued to our Summer Crush tagline, PEACE LOVE AND ROCK AND ROLL, which says it best. We fall for the charisma, the stage presence. Skill on instruments and with words is hot. But we want to see these things on good people having healthy relationships, which is what romance should be about

In summation, rockstars are cool, we like them a lot. Music is awesome. And I really, really, really miss live music. There’s something magical about being in a space with friends and strangers who’ve come together to soak up notes, rhythm, and words together, to receive energy and give it back. It’s a giving circuit. It’s potent joy. And even with the reach of technology, for me live streams don’t quite cut it.

I wish the pandemic is over and we are all safe and healthy and can go to gigs again. Until then, we have our rockstars in romance.

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Newsletter: https://romancepodcast.com/kilig

He Bangs! She Bangs! New Book : Songs To Your Beat

Posted on April 26, 2020

I didn’t know what to do with Nino until we decided it’s time to move on. If you’ve known him since Songs Of Our Breakup, you’d know Nino didn’t have a good run with his last relationship. Not really spoiler alert: he messed up. He did try to win a heart back and tried a do-over, a prelude to which we see in the super short narrative of him flying to Singapore on a mission in the aptly titled That Thing Called Closure.

From there I waited, I tried, I asked him how indeed can he succeed in this do-over. And it just wasn’t rolling, because it can’t. Some things are un-fixable, and maybe the fixing has to be an inward thing and that is the lesson for today, Nino-wise.

So in his book Songs To Your Beat (unofficial/really official/some kind of canon alternative title Songs You Bang To), Nino tries again. Not to revive a dead relationship, a love he lost, but to forge on, scarred heart and lessons learned and all of that. Find love and love himself again. A single tear may trickle down when I think about this, because it wasn’t easy, and this dude, Nino, well I am proud of him.

And then there’s Santana. I see her through Nino’s flirty yet 20-20 lens, and she’s tough and exhausted and she needs a hug, even though she won’t ask for it. Even when she’ll tackle Nino to the ground to give him a clue. She’s a water plant treatment engineer, inspired by the toughest woman I know.

Songs To Your Beat is out on Amazon, only $0.99 for a few more hours as of this writing. Cover design by Tania Arpa, photography by Alexandra Urrea featuring Iking Uy.

I published this book on April 18, on Dawn Lanuza‘s birthday (lol yay Aries season!), and Japanese record release date of the album Favorite Worst Nightmare by the Arctic Monkeys.

More on the book below. And a song from the album called Old Yellow Bricks. “You’re a fugitive but you don’t know what you’re running from” heh yeah lol

“I am the drummer” — It usually works for Nino, beat master of rock band Trainman and newcomer DJ, but the usual hook fell flat on gorgeous, sleepy-eyed, water treatment plant engineer Santana. Still there’s attraction even Santana can’t deny, and despite her warning that she’s not exactly in the market for a relationship, they agree to take it one sporty date, one bacon haunt, one hot night together at a time.

Nino thinks it’s going quite well. So what does it matter that his ex is back in the country? Or that he’s weighed down with guilt he hasn’t been able to shake off for too long? With his brand new attempt at happy-finally-after, none of that matters. Right?

Writing Now

Latest Book! Songs You Come Back To

Posted on March 21, 2020

Finafxxkingly! — how I’d sum up this book’s journey in one word. I first finished Son and Alice‘s story in 2016, with the goal of getting to The End before I started #romanceclassFlair. I have since released Ringo and Kris (You Out of Nowhere, 2017) and Ringo and Kris’s Summer Episode (Second Wave Summer anthology, 2018), but alas, Son needed more time and a looot of work. Didn’t think I’ll ever trash an entire finished draft and start from scratch but we don’t really think of those kinds of things do we cos gah que horror, but that’s exactly what happened. Shelved 40k words, lay face down with my thoughts for periods of time, tried again, failed, tried again, succumbed to the need for rest from words, tried again. This time, I think, Son and I finally got it. The only goal for this book really is to write it, enjoy it, and get it out, pleaseandthankyoujustGO. It’s been with me for far too long and though I figure time and a hiatus was just part of this particular process, it’s also a psychic block of sorts that I’m glad to finally be able to push through.

Run wild and be free Son and Alice. Today you no longer belong to just me. And that’s freeing and scary and ultimately awesome. To all who were part of the madness, I hope I got all your names in the Acknowledgements. I am blessed, I am grateful. I shall have cake when cake is again available. This book is coming out at a strange time of escalating anxieties and very real fears, and it’s a small thing among the big, suffocating things. But it’s a good thing and I’m glad for it, and hope you will enjoy it.

Let me come home to you.

When Son meets Alice again after she disappeared from his life four years ago, he can’t wait to impress her. He is the oft half-naked bassist of indie rock band Trainman after all. But adolescent pain lingers, and headstrong actress Alice isn’t about to let Son off the hook for breaking her heart. Can he prove to her, to himself, and to people who matter, that he is capable of being someone she (and everyone else) can count on?

Cover design by Tania Arpa, with photography by Alexandra Urrea featuring TJ Roxas. Fourth book in the Playlist series but can be read as a standalone. Proudly a #romanceclass book <3

Songs You Come Back To is only 0.99$ until end of March 2020.

Son and Alice’s story first began in Promdi Heart.
Also, happy birthday Takeru Satoh! I heartchu.

Writing Now

Second Wave Summer

Posted on June 15, 2018

As of this writing, our second summer anthology Second Wave Summer has been out in the bookish universe for 29 days (woohoo). I talk about this in the Author’s Note, how as each book is special in its own space, this one is memorable mostly because it wasn’t supposed to be here. After Summer Crush, Tara, Six and I ~might~ have been talking about doing something together again (or we could be only eating ube cheesecake, I dunno), but it wasn’t supposed to be a Summer Crush 2. But at the time, April was coming up–the top month of the hot season where we are, and the month of the first anniversary of Summer Crush, our beach-love-rock-n-roll anthology. We had to do something to celebrate. It was only right.

And so here it is. Second Wave Summer. The product of bursts of ideas and auto-affirmatives (the answer is always yes), born out of a stretch of writing dry spells and mini personal crises and moving deadlines.

Thank YOU for picking it up and reading, rating, reviewing, talking about it. Thank you for saying yes to us too. And if you haven’t yet, and you’re curious, here’s a quick look on what kind of romance the book has for you:

All roads lead back to beachside music festival Summer Crush for another weekend of high waves, rock & roll, and the promise of summer romance.

On any given day, Michael Brian doesn’t need to do much to hit the right notes with a girl, but there’s something about this day—and something about this girl—that’s got him out of tune. (A Taste of Summer, Six delos Reyes)

Indie filmmaker Datu puts on his dusty event videographer hat for Summer Crush. But memories of a love he let slip away resurface from every corner of this surf town. Now what he thought would be an easy job just isn’t so easy anymore. (Rushes, Tara Frejas)

Corporate-highflyer-on-vacation Ringo has a question to which cookie bar boss woman Kris has the answer, if only they’d stop getting in each other’s way. (Ask Me Nicely, Jay E. Tria)

Sounds like something that will make you crave champorado, right? No? Well it will. You’re welcome.

The ebook is available on Amazon here, and in print here. Find it in #romanceclass events too together with more more more moooore awesome romance titles.

As for if we will be working on something together again, well, maybe there’s more ube cheesecake out there for sharing. Until then, hope you like how we do summer ~ <3

Life and Lemons Writing Now

My #romanceclass Origins Story

Posted on March 18, 2018

#romanceclass head of PR and Marketing Chachic (lol but true) is doing this really fun thing on her blog she calls romanceclass Origins, where people from the community get to share how they found this safe and encouraging creative space. She was so kind to think of me and feature my story. See how I came out of nowhere apparently 😀

1. How did you discover #romanceclass?

I had a book and no idea what to do with it. I’ve tried querying international agents and had a couple of polite rejections and a lot of ignored emails. The more I read and the deeper I went into figuring out how to get published, the more I felt that maybe this would be a hard path for a Filipino author to take. I felt like I had to look for someone–an agent, a publishing house–who was looking for an author who lived where I lived and who wrote the things I did, and it felt like such a specific task. A good-as-impossible scenario. So while in that state, researching on how Filipino authors get published, I came across several magic, life-changing words: self-publishing, Mina V. Esguerra, and #romanceclass. I found Mina’s blog Publishing in Pajamas, read almost all of her posts and bookmarked this one post about how she did it–wrote and published her book. I read it so many times like an adobo recipe I was determined not to fail. I clung onto that for strength to continue wanting and working to be published. I learned about her company Bronze Age Media and sent her an email asking if they accept manuscripts for publication. (Mina, if you’re reading this, please don’t go back and reread that email because all the cringing my goodness. I am so sorry /cries) Two years later (yes, it took me this long), I gathered up all I had and called her while on lunch break at the office to ask about getting an editor. She was very nice and very patient. I had a lot of questions. A lot. I remember the call getting cut and my anxiety at having to call again. But I did. I called again and asked more questions. I was instructed to send my manuscript and wait. I sent and waited. This was Blossom Among Flowers. While that’s happening, I went through old drafts and found one I’ve been working on and off for a few years. I finished it. By the time Layla Tanjutco emailed me, the first draft was done so I sent it to her. This was Songs of Our Breakup. While that’s happening I also joined #StrangeLit and yay, yes finished an urban fantasy. This was Majesty. I released Blossom Among Flowers first, and then Songs of Our Breakup before that workshop was done, with about a month in between. I remember Mina retweeting my SOOB tweet and saying I was a #StrangeLit participant. I remember her using the #romanceclass tag when she finished reading the book and said she liked it. ‘Lovely book,’ she said. The memory still gives me unicorn wings. I joined the Facebook group and made a warm nest of the community, its people. This was late 2015. I remember crying a little inside and thinking hey, look at that, I got to publish my book. Books. It’s not impossible after all.

Read the rest of my answers here! Thank you Chachic <3

Tourism Writing Now

Things to Do on a Weekend in La Union

Posted on April 18, 2017

It was the weekend I fell in love with the beach.

I guess it’s just a matter of finding the correct mermaid/scientist guide, the perfect company, or a strong enough motive. Having a non-itinerary itinerary surely helped. It got me back to the basics of the sun, sand, and sea and all that the beach offers. It was my first time in La Union, and the first time I truly loved spending time surrounded by water, and this was how it happened. Continue Reading